I discovered this board a couple of weeks ago, and I am quite impressed with the depth of knowledge and quality of debate here. One thing that surprises me is that, for all of the discussion of hypothetical match-ups, I haven't found anyone gaming them out.

Has anyone here played Command at Sea, Seekrieg, Battlewagon, Harpoon, Victory Games' Fleet series, any of the classic board games such as Avalon Hill's Midway or any other non-computer naval sim?

Just because it's stupid, futile and doomed to failure, that doesn't mean some officer won't try it.-- R. Rather

I've played several of those but not in a long time. Did get a chance to play a beta version of an upgrade of Clear for Action which is computer moderated at a con a few months ago and it seems to have a lot of promise.

My interest in these games has grown since there seems to be no WWII computer based surface action game to play. I have Jutland and its a good game but I am looking for something where you get into the command of single ships and the nitty-gritty of surface action (ie: flooding/counter flooding, damage control, etc) like Great Naval Battles. I played the AH board game Bismarck many years ago and have been thinking of trying to do that again. Anyone else have similar interests?

The AI in GNB annoyed me a lot, so the damage control was my favorite part of the game.

I never have liked the point-based damage system in Harpoon & Command at Sea, but the critical hit rules are servicable. I much preferred the damage system in Warship Commander and its companion, Sea Command.

These days I mainly work with Harpoon & Command at Sea, both currently published by Clash of Arms Games. The former is modern naval combat, and the latter is WWII. A third game in the "Admiralty Series" is Fear God and Dreadnought, which is about WWI & the dreadnought era. The games (at least, the most recent revisions) are basically compatible with each other. I saw a thread in the "Hypothetical Scenarios" board in this forum that posited a match-up between the WWII USN and the modern Spanish Navy. It would be possible to play this out using Harpoon & Command at Sea.

Just because it's stupid, futile and doomed to failure, that doesn't mean some officer won't try it.-- R. Rather

I discovered this board a couple of weeks ago, and I am quite impressed with the depth of knowledge and quality of debate here. One thing that surprises me is that, for all of the discussion of hypothetical match-ups, I haven't found anyone gaming them out.

Has anyone here played Command at Sea, Seekrieg, Battlewagon, Harpoon, Victory Games' Fleet series, any of the classic board games such as Avalon Hill's Midway or any other non-computer naval sim?

..... I'm a long time naval miniatures player, who has at one time or another played most of the games you have mentioned . Not really a fan of PC based naval wargaming for various reasons.

Rick Rather wrote:The AI in GNB annoyed me a lot, so the damage control was my favorite part of the game.

I never have liked the point-based damage system in Harpoon & Command at Sea, but the critical hit rules are servicable. I much preferred the damage system in Warship Commander and its companion, Sea Command.

Persoonally I like this game. Dunno maybe there're some drawbacks but the overall impression is pretty good